1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a condenser assembly for a vehicle air conditioning system and, more specifically, to such a condenser assembly constructed so that the volumetrics of the condenser assembly may be readily varied thereby eliminating or substantially reducing the tooling cost associated with redesigning the condenser assembly for volumetric variations.
2. Description of Related Art
Condenser assemblies for automotive vehicle air conditioning systems typically include a pair of headers and a core having a plurality of tubes, through which refrigerant flows, disposed horizontally between the two headers. An inlet is disposed near an upper portion of one of the headers and an outlet is disposed at the lower portion of either the same or the other header. Within the headers, partitions may be provided to divide the interior space of the headers into more than one fluidically separate spaces. As a result, the refrigerant is caused to flow in a serpentine fashion making more than one path through the tubes between the headers.
Typically attached to one of the headers and in fluid communication therewith is a receiver. Refrigerant condensed in the core flows into the receiver where it is separated into gas and liquid portions. Since the presence of water in the refrigerant will degrade the performance and structural integrity of the air conditioning system, a dryer is often associated with or located within the receiver. The dryer is located within the receiver so that the dryer is in contact with the liquid portion of the refrigerant facilitating the removal of water from the refrigerant. The dryer may itself be comprised of a bag or cartridge containing a dryer granulate such as desiccant.
More recent designs of condenser assemblies have integrated the receiver/dryer with one of the headers mentioned above. One method of doing this has been to locate a plate within the header so as to divide the header into a manifold portion and a receiver/dryer portion. One drawback of this construction is that the design requires, for structural integrity of the system, a center line alignment of the core and the header containing the integrated receiver/dryer. Another drawback of this construction is that the joint between the manifold portion and the receiver/dryer portion cannot be inspected after brazing from the outside of the header. A further drawback is that once the tooling has been designed and constructed for such a condenser assembly, it is expensive to modify the tooling in order to provide the necessary parts with different partition locations, refrigerant communication hole locations, and volume changes of the various components of the condenser assembly, including a number of tubes in the core, as well as the lengths of the headers, the manifold portion and the receiver/dryer portion.
In other designs where the header is not internally divided to define a manifold portion and the receiver dryer, the problem remains whereby tooling flexibility is lacking and design changes relating to the volumetrics of the condenser assembly are expensive and time consuming to accommodate.
In view of the above it can be seen that there exists a need to provide a condenser assembly whose construction readily allows for the changing of the volumetrics in the assembly without incurring substantial costs and time involved in tooling a change over.
In achieving the above object, the present invention provides a condenser assembly for use in the air conditioning system of an automotive vehicle. The condenser assembly includes a core containing a plurality of tubes positioned generally horizontally and parallel to one another. The tubes accordingly define a space between adjacent ones thereof. Located within each of these spaces is a corrugated fin. The fin is in contact with both of the adjacent tubes and may be provided with louvers so as to aid in heat transfer from the refrigerant through the tubes, to the fins and, finally, to air passing through the core. On opposite sides of the core are provided a pair of headers. These headers are each in fluid communication with the tubes of the core.
The first header is configured such that refrigerant both enters and exits the condenser assembly through this header. Other locations for the refrigerant entrance and exit can be employed. The header is principally constructed from a cylindrical body having a constant cross sectional profile along its length. The open ends of the cylindrical body are closed by caps so as to define a cavity within the header. The cavity itself is divided by a partition into an upper and lower part.
The header on the opposing end of core includes two portions, a manifold portion and a receiver/dryer portion. The receiver/dryer portion is constructed of a cylindrical body having a constant cross sectional profile along its length. The ends of this cylindrical body are also closed off by caps so as to define a cavity within the receiver/dryer portion. The manifold portion is formed from another member having a constant cross sectional profile along its length. This member engages the exterior surface of the cylindrical body of the receiver/dryer portion and cooperates therewith to define a manifold chamber therein. The upper and lower most ends of the manifold chamber are closed off by partitions that extend between the manifold member and the cylindrical body of the receiver/dryer portion. Internally of the manifold chamber, an additional partition is provided to divide the manifold chamber into an upper part and a lower part. The lower part generally corresponding with the lower part of the other header. The receiver/dryer portion is further in fluid communication with the manifold portion by the formation of apertures in a generally lower end of the cylindrical body forming the receiver/dryer portion. Preferably, two apertures are provided for this communication, one being located above the partition dividing the manifold chamber into two parts and the other aperture being located below that partition.
Located within the receiver/dryer chamber is a dryer. The dryer includes dryer particulate or granulate located within a containment medium such as a permeable bag. When in contact with the liquid portion of the refrigerant being separated from the gaseous portion of the refrigerant, within the receiver/dryer portion, the particulate will remove any water that has become intermixed with the refrigerant fluid.
Prior to exiting the receiver/dryer portion, the refrigerant passes through a screen which operates to filter and remove contaminants from that fluid. This filter is incorporated into a spacer that also maintains the dryer a distance above the outlet of the receiver/dryer portion.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, the cross sectional profile of the cylindrical member of the receiver/dryer portion is round, as is the cross sectional profile of the cylindrical member of the inlet/outlet header. The cross sectional shape of the manifold member is preferably semicircular. This semicircular shape may be along a center portion of the cross section of the manifold with semicircular flanges extending therefrom so as to enable securement of the manifold member to the cylindrical body.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the technology to which the invention relates, upon a review of the detailed description, and drawings taken in conjunction with the appended claims.